Justin Baldoni Producer Allegedly Compared Blake Lively Dispute to War

Blake Lively has accused an It Ends With Us executive producer of aiding Justin Baldoni and his team in their alleged attempts to “destroy” her reputation.

According to court documents obtained by Us Weekly, Lively, 37, claimed Steve Sarowitz — the co-founder and co-chairman of Baldoni’s production company Wayfarer — divulged to an unnamed witness at the It Ends With Us New York premiere in August 2024 that he was “prepared to spend $100 million to ruin the lives of Ms. Lively and her family.”

That same month, Sarowtiz, 60, allegedly made another threat directed at Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds’ family.

Lively claimed in court documents that despite the film making “a lot of money” after its release, Sarowitz told a witness who worked with Wayfarer on an unrelated project that if the Gossip Girl alum and Reynolds, 48, “ever cross the line, ever, then I will go after them.”

“I will protect the studio like Israel protected itself from Hamas,” he allegedly said, per the complaint, referencing the ongoing war in the Middle East between Israel and the terrorist organization Hamas. “There were 39,000 dead bodies. There will be two dead bodies when I’m done. Minimum. Not dead, but ‘you’re dead to me.’ So that kind of dead. But dead to a lot of people.”

Sarowitz also allegedly told a witness that he was “gonna spend a lot of money to make sure the studio is protected.”

Us Weekly has reached out to Baldoni’s team for comment on the allegations made against Sarowitz.

On Tuesday, February 18, Lively filed an updated complaint in New York federal court, alleging that the This Is Us director made “other women” feel uncomfortable on set.

Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman responded to Lively’s amended complaint in a statement to Us, saying: “Our clients have been transparent in providing receipts, real time documents and video showing a completely different story than what has been manipulated and cherry picked to the media. Our clients have taken this matter and these issues very seriously notwithstanding the jokes made publicly by the plaintiff and her husband.”

Freedman added that Lively’s amended complaint “is filled with unsubstantial hearsay of unnamed persons who are clearly no longer willing to come forward or publicly support her claims. Since documents do not lie and people do, the upcoming depositions of those who initially supported Ms. Lively’s false claims and those who are witnesses to her own behavior will be enlightening. What is truly uncomfortable here is Ms. Lively’s lack of actual evidence.”

According to Lively’s lawyers Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb, the updated version “provides significant additional evidence and corroboration of her original claims” and “includes previously undisclosed communications” involving Lively, Sony, Wayfarer Studios and “numerous other witnesses.”

In a statement to Us, Lively’s legal team said they will “move to dismiss the utterly meritless lawsuits brought against Ms. Lively and Mr. Reynolds” in the coming weeks.

They will also “move full speed ahead with discovery that we expect will reveal shocking details about the depth to which the Defendants have sunk in their unending efforts to ‘bury,’ ‘ruin,’ and ‘destroy’ Ms. Lively and her family.”